Journal of Ethnic Foods 5 (2018) 286e291

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Journal of Ethnic Foods

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Original Article

Kahwa daun: traditional knowledge of a coffee leaf herbal tea from

West Sumatera, Indonesia
Rilma Novita a, b, *, Anwar Kasim c, Tuty Anggraini c, Deddi P. Putra d
a
Andalas University, Indonesia
b
Department of Agricultural Technology, Agricultural Polytechnic of Payakumbuh, Indonesia
c
Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Kampus Unand Limau Manis, Andalas University, Indonesia
d
Faculty of Pharmacy, Kampus Unand Limau Manis, Andalas University, Indonesia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Background: Kahwa daun is a herbal tea made from coffee leaves produced by people in West Sumatera,
Received 16 May 2018 Indonesia. It has an aroma, flavor, and appearance similar to coffee. There is no existing literature
Received in revised form describing the traditional production method of kahwa daun. In this article, production techniques,
16 September 2018
moisture content, and the yield of the product are explored.
Accepted 15 November 2018
Available online 24 November 2018
Method: Descriptive qualitative research method was used to explore production techniques. Discussion,
observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation were conducted in three districts in West Suma-
tera to collect primary data. Gravimetric method is used to determine the moisture content.
Keywords:
Coffee leaf Result: Processing of fresh coffee leaves into kahwa daun includes collection of raw materials, drying,
Drying packaging, and storage. Kahwa daun usually was made from robusta coffee leaves. The result showed that
Herbal tea there were three main production techniques for kahwa daun in the province which include pendiangan
Kahwa (traditional drying above the cooking fire), smoking, and toasting in a handheld frame over a low heat.
Smoking All techniques were different from the techniques usually used to produce herbal teas. The moisture
Toasting content of kahwa daun was 3.6e7.6% (wb), and the yield of the product was 10e20%.
Conclusion: Kahwa daun processing differs from both usual herbal tea production methods and com-
mercial coffee leaf tea production. The efficacy and potential of kahwa daun as a health drink still
require further research.
© 2018 Korea Food Research Institute. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the
CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction
Coffee, of genus Coffea, is a member of Rubiaceae family that
consists of more than 400 species [1,2]. The two main species of
coffee cultivated in Indonesia are arabica (Coffea arabica L.) and
robusta (Coffea canephora L.). Coffea arabica L originally came from
mountainous regions in Ethiopia and Yemen. The first literature
about coffee is found in the Avicenna report that describes bun-
cham, a beverage from Yemen used as medicine for stomach ache.
Coffee became a common beverage in the 12th century. The Arabic
word for coffee is qahwah. Coffee is made from coffee bean and
known to have the properties of keeping drinkers alert and awake
[3]. Use of coffee beans as a beverage has continued to develop over
* Corresponding author. Griya Sumatera A/1 Sarilamak Kec. Harau Kab. Lima
Puluh Kota, West Sumatera, 26271, Indonesia.
E-mail address: rilma.novita@yahoo.com (R. Novita).
several centuries, but other parts of the plant have not been so
commonly used until recently.
The use of coffee leaves to make tea has long been a tradition in
West Sumatera, Ethiopia, Jamaica, India, Java, and South Sudan, but
the literature about the Sumatran use is limited. The Sumatran
drink is called kahwa daun or kawa (Fig. 1A). Kahwa daun is locally
regarded to be a healthy drink with a delicious taste. According to
Hewitt [3], an infusion of the roasted coffee leaves is used to make a
tea with a delicious smell and taste.
Researchers have shown interest in the phenolic compounds of
plant and their potency in the prevention of degenerative diseases
[4]. Secondary metabolites such as mangiferin, caffeoylquinic acid,
caffeine, hydroxycinnamic acid, allantoic acid, allantoin, theobro-
mine, and theophylline have been found in leaves of some species
of coffee [5e8]. Some other compounds remain unidentified such
as terpenoid, phenylpropanoid, flavonoid, and other alkaloids. The
health benefits of these active compounds in coffee leaves have
made coffee leaf tea increasingly popular.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jef.2018.11.005
2352-6181/© 2018 Korea Food Research Institute. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
 R. Novita et al / Journal of Ethnic Foods 2018; 5: 286e291
Fig. 1. (A) A coffee leaf herbal tea from West Sumatera is also known as kahwa daun. (B) Traditional serving of kahwa daun beverage.
Minangkabau (a tribe in West Sumatera) people cultivated
coffee plants from before the arrival of the Dutch and used the
leaves to produce kahwa. The beverage is traditionally served in
coconut shells that are made into cups with a base fashioned
from bamboo (Fig. 1B). The kahwa beverage is stored in a bamboo
tube (called a perian) and is covered with a bamboo lid made
from the black fibers surrounding the trunk of Arenga pinnata
(called ijuk) [9].
Production of kahwa daun correlated with cultuurstelsel system.
In the middle of the 19th century, Minangkabau people were or-
dered by the Dutch to plant the coffee tree. Minangkabau people
came from 3 main districts in West Sumatera which were Tanah
Datar, Agam, and Lima puluh Kota. They had to deposit coffee beans
to the Dutch's pankhuis (a place or a warehouse to store coffee
beans) after harvesting. Coffee was the Dutch's most important
trading commodity at that time. Local people who wanted the bean
must buy it from the Dutch's pankhuis. Minangkabau people did not
think that it was a big problem because they had cultivated coffee
plants from before the arrival of the Dutch and had used the leaves
to produce kahwa. Minangkabau people were famous for their
traditions as the merchant. When the price of coffee beans
increasingly rose, they were even willing to plant more coffee seeds
than what the Dutch had ordered, but the crops were no longer
fully handed over to the pankhuis. They sold it themselves to the
east coast to Singapore and Malacca. They responded to the cul-
tuurstelsel in a different way [9,10].
Qualitative research was conducted to investigate and help
preserve knowledge about the traditional processes used to prepare
kahwa daun from fresh coffee leaves in West Sumatra, Indonesia.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Materials and equipment
Materials included a list of questions related to the processing of
kahwa daun. The tools used were a camera, audio, and a video
recorder to facilitate in grouping and analysis of data. Measurement
of moisture content used analytical scales, dishes, clamps, desic-
cators, and an oven.
2.2. Methods
Data were obtained using a survey and discussions, observa-
tions, and in-depth interviews with producers of kahwa daun. Pri-
mary data about processing techniques came from producers in
three districts of West Sumatera starting from preparation of raw
287
material to production of kahwa daun. Further data included notes,
recording conversations, and photos.
The research was conducted in Tanah Datar, Lima Puluh Kota,
and Agam districts in April to June 2017. The reason for choosing the
three districts was because there were many sellers of kahwa daun
beverage in these districts and they are the center of Minangkabau
culture and can be considered to represent the Province of West
Sumatra as a whole. Thirty-four sellers of kahwa daun spread
throughout the districts were selected. These sellers gave data
about suppliers/producers of kahwa daun. These producers were
then interviewed, and their production methods were observed.
Moisture content analysis of the kahwa daun from these suppliers
was conducted using a gravimetric method [11].
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Location of research
Kahwa daun studies came from producers in Tanah Datar and
Lima Puluh Kota, West Sumatera with coordinates 0
190 11.500 S
100
32015.600 E (Tabek Patah 1), 0
190 19.000 S 100
32017.000 E (Tabek
Patah 2), 0
250 02.200 S 100
340 06.100 E (Pasir Laweh), and 0
120 34.100 S
100
360 58.800 E (Lampasi) (Fig. 2).
3.2. Production data
Three producers came from Tanah Datar and one from Lima
Puluh Kota. A profile of the respondents showed that these pro-
ducers had educational backgrounds ranging from elementary
school alone to senior high school and were aged 35e58 years. The
oldest producer acquired knowledge of the production process
from her grandmother and has produced kahwa daun continuously
since 2001. All three producers had been producing kahwa daun
continuously for many years and supplied kahwa daun to outlets
spread throughout districts of West Sumatra and as far away as Riau
Province. The respondent data are shown in Table 1.
3.3. Raw materials
It was discovered that robusta, traditionally referred to as “the
old coffee,” was the source of the leaves used in making kahwa
(Fig. 3). These leaves are large, wide, and green [12].
Coffee leaves were collected from small private plantations be-
tween 8 and 11 am and processed without any pretreatment such as
washing and sorting. The coffee leaves used were mature rather than
young leaves. There was no special requirement for the leaves to be
288 R. Novita et al / Journal of Ethnic Foods 2018; 5: 286e291

Fig. 2. (A) Indonesia is an archipelago country with 34 provinces. (B) West Sumatera Province is the place of origin of kahwa daun. (C) Location of research was in 3 districts (Agam,
Tanah Datar, and Lima Puluh Kota). The producer of kahwa daun was found in Tanah Datar district (1e3) and Lima Puluh Kota district (4).

Table 1
Data of producer of kahwa daun.

Description Producer 1 Producer 2 Producer 3 Producer 4

Age 50 years old 58 years old 35 years old 45 years old

Address Tabek Patah, Tanah Datar Tabek Patah, Tanah Datar Pasir Laweh, Tanah Datar Lampasi, Lima Puluh Kota
Education Junior high school Elementary school Senior high school Senior high school
Marital status Married Widowed Married Married
First production 2004 2001 2006 2008
Source of knowledge Mother Grandmother Mother-in-law From Tanah Datar

Source: Interview (2017).

regarded as appropriate for making kahwa daun. Both leaves attached
to branches and individual detached leaves were used (see Table 2).
Leaf pruning is important in the cultivation of coffee plants to
maintain long-term productivity. Unwanted parts of the plants
such as old, dry, and nonproductive branches are cut away [13].
Leaves from these pruning processes are able to be used to sup-
plement the income of the coffee grower.
3.4. Processing
The producer in the district of Lima Puluh Kota learned how to
produce kahwa daun from producers in the district of Tanah Datar.
But, the Tanah Datar producers have not used this technique since
about 2001 because they have been producing kahwa daun on a
very large scale.
 R. Novita et al / Journal of Ethnic Foods 2018; 5: 286e291 289

Fig. 3. A coffee tree. The moderate coffee leaves are used in making kahwa daun.
Interviews with these larger scale producers and observations
indicated that two different methods were now used (see Table 3).
For both methods, the leaves were clasped between two 180-cm-
long flat sticks made from bamboo or sugar palm leaf spines
(Fig. 4A). Small branches containing several leaves were processed
intact. Individual leaves that had separated from the branches were
pierced through their centers with skewers made from bamboo to
facilitate processing (Fig. 4B). The leaves in the clasp were then
processed by one of two methods. Producers 1 and 2 smoked the
leaves (Fig. 5A and 5B), whereas Producer 3 rotated them 30e40 cm
from the flame of a wood fire (preferably from the cinnamon tree)
until dry (Fig. 5C). The original method is used by Producer 4. The
coffee leaves were pierced with skewers made from bamboo. The
leaves were processed over domestic kitchen fires. The coffee
leaves were dried over a period of more than 2 weeks (Fig. 5D).
Smoking is one of the oldest known food preservation processes
and is commonly used for meat or fish. It can improve both flavor
and color. Antibacterial and antioxidant compounds in the smoke
prevent spoilage. In some cases, smoking is used to pretreat food in
place of drying. Smoking is a slow process and is not easy to control.
Smoked food products such as fish can be processed at tempera-
tures as low as 35
C (cold smoke) for a long time or at a minimum
of 62.8
C for about 30 minutes [14]. In the case of kahwa daun, the
leaves are smoked in 4- to 15-kg batches at high heat for about 1e2
hours.
Wood smoke contains more than 400 volatile compounds
including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). While the color
of smoked products is influenced by nitrogen oxide content, PAH and
phenolic compounds affect the flavor [14], and some researchers
consider that it may have a negative impact on health. The compo-
sition of PAH present in smoked or toasted food products is related to
the type of heat source and the length of processing. Foods placed
directly on a heat source or close to the flame have the highest PAH
content [15]. This indicates that the toasted leaves will produce a tea
higher in PAH than the smoked leaves but lower than coffee as both
are processed at lower temperatures than coffee beans.
The fact that mature leaves are used in both these processes
suggests that tea prepared by both methods may contain higher
levels of beneficial phenol and antioxidant activity. Previous
research has found that production of kahwa daun from robusta
coffee leaves using the 3rd and 4th leaves from shoots directly dried
by using cabinet dryer had the highest total phenol and antioxidant
activity [16]. Previous research by the author has shown that the

Table 2
Raw materials.

Observation Producer 1 Producer 2 Producer 3 Producer 4

Source of leaves Old coffee Old coffee Old coffee Old coffee
Coffee leaves dimension (cm) L ¼ 20e32, W ¼ 10e13 L ¼ 18e33, W ¼ 9e13 L ¼ 20e30, W ¼ 9e14 L ¼ 22e32, W ¼ 10e14
Part of leaves used Moderate/old leaves Useless leaves Old leaves Moderate leaves
Leaves pretreatment No No No No
Leaves-plucking time 8e9 a.m 8e10 a.m 9e11 a.m 8e9 a.m
Leaves quantity (kg/day) 20e30 30e50 20e30 1e2

Source: Interviews and observations (2017).

Table 3
Processing.

Observation Producer 1 Producer 2 Producer 3 Producer 4

Processing equipment Furnace closed Furnace closed Furnace opened Furnace opened
Source of energy Cinnamon burned Cinnamon burned or Wood burned; should Kitchen fire
or other wood other wood not be acid wood
Distance of leaves from heat source 60e90 cm 75e100 cm 15e25 cm >100 cm
Leaves treatment Leaves and twigs Leaves and twigs Leaves and twigs Leaves were pierced
clamped with bamboo clamped with bamboo clamped with midrib through their centers with skewers
Weight of one pin per process (kg) 2e3 2e3 2e3 1e2
Number of fresh leaves per process (kg) 6e9 10e15 4e6 1e2
Time process (minutes) 50e60 75e120 45e60 >2 weeks
The final result kahwa daun (kg) 4e5 3e5 3e4 0.3e0.8

Source: Interviews and observations (2017).

290 R. Novita et al / Journal of Ethnic Foods 2018; 5: 286e291

Fig. 4. (A) Small branches containing several leaves were clasped by flat sticks made from bamboo to facilitate processing. (B) Individual leaves were pierced through their centers
with skewers made from bamboo.

total phenol content of kahwa daun sourced from drink stalls in
three districts of West Sumatera province can be anywhere be-
tween 87 and 975 mg L1 gallic acid equivalent [17]. Coffee leaves
obtain different health-related functions when processed with
different tea-processing methods. Japanese green tea production
coffee leaves on the other hand have the potential to be more
suitable for producing novel natural health products with antioxi-
dant and antiinflammatory properties [18].
3.5. Moisture content and yield
Moisture content of the kahwa daun ranged from 3.6 to 7.6%
which is well within the standard range of moisture content of
black tea (<8.0% w/w according to SNI 01-1902-1990). Conse-
quently, the yield of kahwa daun was in the range of 10e20%, which
is lower than the yield of black tea which was about 23% [19] (see
Table 4).

Fig. 5. (A, B) Producers were making kahwa daun in a closed furnace at Tabek Patah. (C) Making kahwa daun used an opened furnace at Pasia Laweh. (D) Original processing was
documented at Lampasi.
 R. Novita et al / Journal of Ethnic Foods 2018; 5: 286e291 291

Table 4 References
Moisture content and yield.
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Observation Producer 1 Producer 2 Producer 3 Producer 4
http://www.theplantlist.org/.
Moisture content (%) 4.1 3.6 4.7 7.6 [2] [Internet] The International Plant Names Index. 2012 [Cited: 2018 January 2].
Yield (%) 17e20 10 13e15 20 Available: http://www.ipni.org/ipni/plantnamesearchpage.do.
[3] Hewitt RJ. Coffee its history, cultivation and uses. New York: D. Appleton and
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